General Awareness

ENVIRONMENT - August 2019

Aug 2019

Dec 23, 2021

Arctic Temperatures Continue to Rise

According to a report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), temperatures in the Arctic last year were among the highest on record, and the region continues to see the dramatic shifts that put it at the cutting edge of climate change's effects.
The Arctic, which continues to warm at about twice the rate of the rest of the globe, saw its seventh-warmest polar year on record (from September 2020 through October) and the warmest autumn since 1900.

Dec 22, 2021

Himalayan Glaciers Melting at 'Exceptional Rate'

According to a study, glaciers in the Himalayas are melting at an "exceptional" rate because of global warming, threatening the water supply of millions of people in Asia.
The researchers found that the Himalayan glaciers have lost ice ten times more quickly over the last few decades than on average since the last major glacier expansion 400-700 years ago, a period known as the Little Ice Age.
The study also shows that Himalayan glaciers are shrinking far more rapidly than glaciers in other parts of the world.
The Himalayan mountain range is home to the world's third-largest amount of glacier ice, after Antarctica and the Arctic and is often referred to as 'the Third Pole'.

Scientists Find Fossil of Largest Arthropod to Ever Live

Researchers in the U.K. have found the fossilized exoskeleton of the largest arthropod to have ever lived. These giant millipede-like creatures were the length of a car and likely roamed Earth during the Carboniferous Period, between 359 million and 299 million years ago.
The monstrous millipede ancestors, known as Arthropleura, were already known to scientists, but the discovery of the new fossilized exoskeleton fragment confirms that these ancient invertebrates could grow to be much larger than previously expected.

Dec 16, 2021

Uttarakhand's Askot Wildlife Sanctuary Declared Eco-Sensitive Zone

The gazette notification declaring Askot Wildlife Sanctuary in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand as an eco-sensitive zone was issued by the Union Ministry of Forest and Environment reducing its area by 146 square kilometres, a stretch along which over 111 villages are located.
After the new notification, Askot Wildlife Sanctuary has become the first sanctuary in the state without any villages inside it.
The Askot Wildlife Sanctuary was established to protect the endangered flagship species Musk Deer and its habitat. The Askot Wildlife Sanctuary is also known as Musk Deer Park.

Dec 15, 2021

Haiderpur Wetland in Uttar Pradesh Recognised as Ramsar Site

The Haiderpur Wetland abutting the Madhya Ganga barrage, about 10 km from Bijnor in western Uttar Pradesh, was recognised under the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Uttar Pradesh is now home to 9 Ramsar wetlands. The wetland has also been identified under Namami Gange, a central flagship, as a model wetland along the Ganga. With this, there are now a total of 47 such designated areas in the country.
The site supports more than 25,000 water birds, serves as a breeding site for the near-threatened Indian grassbird and provides refuge to the northern subspecies population of the vulnerable swamp deer during its seasonal flood-driven migration. The site also regularly supports more than 1% of the population of greylag goose and bar-headed goose.

Climate Crisis: UN Recognizes New Arctic Temperature Record of 38 Degrees

The UN officially recognized the 38 degrees Celsius measured in Siberia in 2020 as a new record high for the Arctic, sounding alarm bells over climate change.
The sweltering heat, equivalent to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, was seen in June 2020, in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk, marking the highest temperature ever recorded above the Arctic Circle.
This is the first time the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has added record heat in the Arctic to its archive of extreme weather reports, and it comes amid an unprecedented wave of record temperature spikes globally.
Verkhoyansk lies about 115 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle and temperatures have been measured there since 1885.

Dec 14, 2021

Antarctica's Thwaites Glacier Ice Shelf could Collapse within Five Years

As per reports, the demise of a West Antarctic glacier poses the world's biggest threat to raise sea levels before 2100 — and an ice shelf that's holding it back from the sea could collapse within three to five years.
Thwaites Glacier is one of the largest, highest glaciers in Antarctica. Spanning 120 kilometers across, the glacier is roughly the size of Florida, and were the whole thing to fall into the ocean, it would raise sea levels by 65 centimeters, or more than two feet. Right now, its melting is responsible for about 4 percent of global sea level rise.
But a large portion of the glacier is about to lose its tenuous grip on the seafloor, and that will dramatically speed up its seaward slide.

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